Stick-candy making and apparatus for same.



5, DEMPSEY & STEiN/UGH.

SUCK

CANDY MAMNG AND AFPARMUS FOR SAME.

APPucATxoN FILED APR. 20. w14.

Patented Apr. 3, ml?.

A. E. DEIVIPSEY & 0. STEl-NBAUGH.

STICK CANDY MAKING AND APPARATUS FOR SAME.

APPLICATION FILED AFR. 20. |914. 1,221,423. Patented Apr. 3,1917.

-. 2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

, emps e o; .Sm-f. AQA

n mu.

IIIPIFM IWATF@ FATFNT FFIFF.

ARTHUR E. .'DElVIPSEY AND OLIE STEINBAUG-H, 0F COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA.

' STICK-CANDY MAKING AND APPARATUS FOR SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

Application filed April 20, 1914. Serial N o. 833,186.

To all whom t may concern: p

Be it known that we, ARTHUR E. DEMP- snr and OLIE STEINBAUGH, citizens of the United States, and residents of Council Bluffs, in the county of Pottawattamie and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stick-Candy Making and Apparatus for Same, of which the :following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the art of confectionery making, and especially to the manufacture of candy in stick form. It is the object of our invention to provide means for the rapid production of stick-candy in pieces of uniform size and shape, said means being especially adapted for the making of candy in sticks having a soft core-portion conned within an outer portion or shell of a material which is plastic when first formed, but which hardens on cooling so as to confine the permanently soft or plastic core-portion.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the apparatus provided by our invention, Fig. 2 is a front elevation ofA the same, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of the product, Fig. 4L is a transverse section of the same, Fig. 5 is a detail transverse section of the constricting machine, on the plane of the line azof Fig. 6, Fig. 6 is a plan view of the machine, Fig. 7 is an axial section thereof on the line g/-y of Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a detail side view of one of the constricting plungers.

In the manufacture of stick-candy in accordance with our invention, a mass of the candy material A, after the usual prelimi nary treatment andl cooling to a temperature at which it is of a semi-solid or plastic consistency, is placed upon a table 1. The mass of material is formed by hand into an approximately cylindrical shape, vand from one end of themass there is drawn out a substantially cylindrical stick a. which is of uniform diameter and which, when first formed, is quite flexible. In general the manipulation of the plastic mass and the manner of drawing out the stick therefroml are vwell-known to confectioners, and are regularly employed in themanufacture of A stick-candy.

After the drawing of the stick from the plastic mass has been commenced, the end of the stick is started through the constricting machine which is disposed at one side of the table 1, at the end of the portion of said table which supports the plastic mass A 'and on which the flexible stick a; is laid when first drawn from the mass. The machine is operated at a speed proportioned to the rate at which the stick a can be supplied thereto as it is drawn from the plastic mass. From the constricting machine the stick passes onto a continuously-moving belt 2 which extends along the edge of the table l, as shown, and is of such length that the stick may cool enoughto be rigid before reaching the end of the belt.

The constricting machine has a frame consisting of cross-pieces 3 and circular endplates 4, the latter having" foot-portions secured to the ends of the cross-pieces. At the centers of the end-plates are formed bearings for a shaft 5 which carries between the plates a wheel 6 having a central peripheral groove or channel 7. On the front end of the shaft 5 is a pulley 8 which is connected by a belt 9 with a pulley 10. The latter pulley is carried by a shaft 11 which is driven by the pulley 12 of the conveyer-belt 2. In the rim-portion of the wheel 6 are a number of cylindrical openings which extend parallel to the axis of the shaft, being spaced uniformly about said axis, and each intersecting the central peripheral channel 7. In said openings are slidably disposed the plungers 14, each of which carries a blade l5 which fits slidably in a radial slot or kerfintersecting the opening for the respective plunger. The plungers are arranged in pairs, being disposed so that the inner endportions of the blades of each pair may overlap each other when the plungers are pushed in toward the channel 7. In the end of each of the blades is a V-shaped notch, slightly rounded at the apex, and the edges of the notch are beveled or chamfered, as shown in Fig. 8, so as to be comparatively sharp. On the outer ends of the plungers are rectangular heads which are slotted to receive rollers 16 revolubly mounted therein on pivot-pins 17. The axes of the pins 17 are radial to the shaft 5, and on the inner ends of the pins are mounted small rollers 18. On the inner sides of the upper parts of the end-plates 4 are formed cams 19 which are adapted to be engaged by the rollers 16 so that as the wheel 6 is turned in the direction indicated the pairs of plungers will be pushed in toward position until the wheel has moved around a conical opening 22, shown in Fig. 5 andy nel 7 in the Wheel.

far enough to bring the rollers 16 again into engagement with the cams 19.

On one of the cross-pieces 3 is a lug 21 which extends up adjacent to the upwardlymoving side of the wheel 6. In said lug is by dotted lines in Fig. 6, the smaller end of the opening being in proximity to the chan- On the opposite side of the wheel isan inclined trough 23 which Y is carried by ailug 24: on the cross-piece, and of which a-portion at the upper end extends into the channel 7, while the lower end extends adjacent to the surface of the conveyer-beltV 2.

The flexible stick a, after passing through the opening in the guide-lug 21, enters the vchannel 7, is carried around the upper part ofv the wheel within the channel, and thence passes down the trough-23 to the conveyery belt. Asthe stick enters the channel 7 it is engaged by a pair of the blades 15 which are pressed in toward it by the cams 19 as before described, and such engagement of the blades with the stick causes the same to be pulled over the wheel without slipping thereon. As the plungers are pushed farther inward, after the rst engagement of the Vstick by the blades, the stick is' gradu- Y ally constricted bythe sharp edges of the rnotches in the ends of the blades, until at the' farthest inward position of the blades the engaged portion of the stick is reduced to Athe size of the opening' formed by the rounded apex of the notches, as shown in Fig. 7. VThe stick is thus formed into a plurality of pieces a', of which the main body is cylindrical and the ends are rounded vto an approximately semispherical form, and each piece is joined to the preceding one by a small neck-like portion of the material. Y

1t is preferable that one pair of the blades be arranged so .as to constrict the stick slightly more than the other pairs of blades, and when this is done the strength of the stick at the point of greatest constriction is so reduced that it will break there more readily than at the other constricted points. The drive-pulleys 8 and 10 are so proportioned to each other that the conveyer-belt will move very slightly faster than the stick is fed thereto by the machine, and this causes a slight tension upon the jointed stick as it emerges from the machine. A further slight tension is caused by the contraction of the stick due to its cooling as it is carried along by the belt. As a result of the tension produced by these two causes, and of the greater fragility of the stick at the points of greatest constriction, the stick will be pulled apart at said points and will form sections each consisting of a number of the pieces a equal to the number of pairs of plungers and constricting-blades of the machine. Such separated sections, each having a Luiiform number of the pieces a', are indicated at the right of Figs. 1 and 2. These sections are of convenient length for handling, and are manually pushed oli' the moving belt onto the surface of the table 1 after they have been carried a suitable distance by the conveyer-belt. After the material is thoroughly cooled the pieces a are readily broken apart and, owing to the regularity of their length and the rounded form of the ends, the pieces present a neat, uniform and attractive appearance.

The described means of forming the vpieces a may be used for all the ordinary forms of stick-candy, but is especially adapted for the making of sticks or pieces wherein the outer part is formed of any materials such as are ordinarily used in this class of confections and which harden on cooling, but wherein there is an inclosed core of a material that is permanently soft or plastic. In Figs. 3 and 4: there is shown one of the sticks a having a core 0 of such soft material which is inclosed by the main body b of hard material. There is also represented a thin outer layer o of a material that may be striped, colored or otherwise ornamental in appearance. Such a confection as above described cannot be made by the ordinary stick-forming methods wherein pieces of the desired length are formed from a long or continuous stick by cutting or breaking the same olf after cooling, since the soft core-portion would then escape from the ends of the pieces. With the present invention, however, the long or continuous stick is gradually constricted at the ends of the pieces whlle the whole body of the stick is still in a plastic state, and the material b is thus pressed together at the ends of the pieces, so that` said material forms a seal at the ends, suliicient to retain the soft core-material therein.

Now, having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Stick-candy making apparatus comprising a rotating wheel having a peripheral channel therein, pairs of plungers slidable longitudinally of the wheel in openings made therein at opposite sides of the peripheral channel, blades carried by said plungers and having V-shaped end-portions adapted to extend into the peripheral channel, the blades of each pair of plungers being adapted to 'overlap so that during movement toward each other the notches thereof form a progressively decreasing opening coincident with a part of the peripheral channel, and cams for actuating the plungers of each pair simultaneously and in opposite directions.

2. A machine for constricting a plastic candy-stick at uniformly-spaced intervals Without severance of the stick at the constricted points, comprising a rotating Wheel having a smooth annular peripheral channel, means for directing a continuous plastic stick into said channel at one side of the Wheel, means for directing the stick out of .severing the same during the channel at Athe opposite side, a oonveyer moving cordinately with the Wheel and arranged to receive the continuous stick from the latter directing means, pairs of bifurcated elements mounted on the Wheel at opposite sides of the channel, and means for moving said elements to overlapping relations to constrict the plastic stick Without its passage through the channel.

In testimony whereof- We have hereunto subscribed our names in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

ARTHUR E. DEMPSEY. OLlE STEINBAUGH. Witnesses:

D. O. BARNELL, E. N. WRIGHT.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for iive cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

